


Take This Pain and Shove It

by Fanficprincess05



Series: We Are Family [2]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: But Peter is there for him, Family, Fluff, Gen, In which Rocket hurts physically, Massage, Platonic Life Partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 13:55:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10900728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanficprincess05/pseuds/Fanficprincess05
Summary: The four times Peter helped saved Rocket, and the one time Rocket returned the favour.





	Take This Pain and Shove It

**Author's Note:**

> So in the end, it's not going to work out to have all the parts in one fic, so I'm splitting them into parts. They're just too long, and I don't want one fic to be like, 10,000 words lol.  
> This is to go with the other fic I just posted today, "Strip Me Down and Pick Me Up", as will be the following chapters. They're all separate stories, but they are all connected together in theme...
> 
> Just one note about the tense of the story - for some reason I really struggled with the tense, at some times I was putting present and at some times I was putting past tense, but I tried to fix it all to the present for some reason, so I apologise if there are errors anywhere. Hope you enjoy the fic though, it's a cute little drabble :)

The group boards the Milano after a particularly long day spent on Knowhere foraging for spare parts to help build the ship up to a better state. Drax instantly sulks off to his corner of the room – surely every day spent on this planet is a reminder of the time he summoned Ronan’s army to fight them singlehandedly, suffering a traumatic loss at the hands of the aforementioned villain. And so, instead of lingering around and catching the mocking tone of his friends or the jokes that bring up this tainted event, he hides in wait for a time where they will _finally_ leave this wretched planet.

Gamora also retreats to her corner, but for different reasons. She knows she must always be prepared to defend herself and the rest of the group, and so she passes her free time sharpening her swords, creating new weapons and practicing known techniques. Sometimes she can hear Drax yell some constructive criticism across the room; sometimes, they practice together. Hoping they’ll never have to use these skills, knowing one day they will.

Peter comes on the Milano and immediately shoves his “Awesome Mix” tape into the recorder, punching it on full and reclining back in his pilot’s seat. He closes his eyes and heaves a huge sigh of contentment, knowing that despite them remaining stuck on Knowhere that the day was a success, the collection of needed parts growing every day. He opens a bottle of liquor he secured from some shoddy store on the planet, taking a large swig and humming to his favorite tunes.

“Ain’t this just the life, guys?” He says happily, receiving grunts of discontent from his friends.

“Would be a lot better if Rocket could hurry up and fix the ship,” Gamora mutters under her breath, but Peter hears her and chuckles.

“Pilfering through the trash on this planet and laboring away all day for nothing is no life for a man like myself,” Drax says bluntly, putting up his arms to dodge Gamora’s practice kick. “A man like me should be out hunting Ronan’s scum or taking down those who get in my way,” he growls, and Peter just laughs.

“Calm down there, space ranger. Your time will come,” Peter says, lifting his drink towards Drax and taking a swig.

“I am no space ranger,” Drax continues, his face scrunched in confusion. “I am Drax the Destroyer.”

“Metaphor, man,” Peter rolls his eyes, and Gamora looks down, a smirk on her lips.

All of a sudden a large bang can be heard from down below, followed by a large string of expletives being yelled across the ships, causing the three of them to fall silent.

“What was that?” Gamora asks, watching as Peter gets up from his chair and pokes his head down to the floor below.

“Rocket? You okay?” He yells, but gets no answer in return. Turning to look at Drax and Gamora, they simply shrug in reply, causing Peter to sigh.

“You guys just continue what you’re doing then, I’ll go and check on him,” he says sarcastically, to which Drax just stares in confusion.

“Why would we stop doing what we’re doing?” He asks, to which Gamora rolls her eyes and continues to sharpen her knife.

****

There are spare parts lying around everywhere on the lower level of the Milano; Peter finds himself tripping over more things than he’d like to admit. Cursing under his breath at the mess, he squints to try and find Rocket but can’t see anything – smoke has begun to come out of one of the electrical boxes on the wall. Going up to it, he opens it and sees that the wires are pulled out, as if they were in the process of being put back together in another fashion but the process was halted midway through.

“I haven’t finished fixing that yet,” came a low growl from in the shadows, causing Peter to jump three feet in fear.

“Jesus, Rocket, why are you hiding like that?” He says in frustration. At the question Rocket stands up and comes out from hiding slowly, his body seemingly stiff, his back and one of his paws being held in a strange manner. Peter raises an eyebrow.

“What’s wrong with you?” He questions, but receives a sneer from Rocket.

“What’s wrong with you,” the raccoon mocks back in a sarcastic tone. “What are ya, my mother?” He snaps, hobbling up to Peter and pointing at the electrical box. “Now will ya shut up and fix that already? If you’re too much of an idiot to do so, I’ll run ya through it,” he smirks, but Peter sticks his tongue out at the raccoon and gets to work.

“Why don’t you just grow a pair and admit something is wrong already, so we can move on, you drama queen,” Peter says, playing with the wires and putting them back in place, the smoke dissipating on impact. Rocket rolls his eyes and sits back down, heaving a huge sigh, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink underneath the fur.

“I’m a man-made contraption Quill, and sometimes my joints and my body hurt, alright?” he snaps, rubbing a paw up and down his arm, his voice laced with something Peter can’t place. Contempt? Hatred? Anger? He decides not to pursue that question further.

“All this work making you hurt, Rocket? You know I could come and help you,” Peter offers, but Rocket just laughs at the suggestion.

“Like you’d know enough!” He smirks.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I built this ship myself!” He says, offended.

“Obviously. Look at the state of it,” Rocket jokes, winking at him but scowling as he clutches his arm again. Peter runs up to him, a concerned look on his face.

“Seriously, buddy, how can I help? You know I don’t like seeing you in pain, right?” Looking Rocket in the eyes, Peter can see the pain shooting through them, despite Rocket not letting it slip out. Something must have changed in Rocket’s thinking, however, as he smiles in appreciation and moves to let Peter sit next to him.

“Well, if you insist..See, Groot knows of my past and my problems and usually gives me a good massage every night to work out the kinks. But seeing as he’s…” he waves towards the flowerpot on the counter, its inhabitant soundly asleep with a smile on its face, “well..now my body is startin’ to deteriorate. I’m just a mess,” he says the last part bitterly, causing Peter’s heart to hurt in ways he didn’t know possible. He turns towards his friend.

“What about me?” he says, causing Rocket to turn to him, confusion etched on his face.

“What about ya?” He says, and Peter chuckles.

“I could give you a massage,” Peter suggests, causing Rocket to stumble in his words.

“I mean, I suppose ya could…but…why would you wanna…help me at all..” Rocket mumbles, his thoughts broken and his comments stuttering. Peter laughs and puts a hand on Rocket’s shoulder.

“Relax, buddy. Just trying to help you out. I need my technician at his best you know,” Peter winks at him, causing Rocket to smile and his tense body to calm down. Looking at Peter and trying to assess whether this is a good idea or not, he finally stands up, crawling onto Peter’s lap and laughing.

“Ah, why the hell not,” he says, sitting down and looking up into Peter’s face.

“Well, what the hell are ya waiting for?” He snaps playfully, to which Peter scoffs at him.

“How am I even supposed to know where to start? I’m not Groot, you idiot!” He snaps back, but smiles as he holds out his hands, waiting for Rocket to dictate where he should go. Rocket obliges his request, placing his hurting arm into Peter’s hand and sighing contentedly as Peter begins to rub his fingers throughout.

“Feel good?” Peter asks amusedly, receiving a mere grunt as a response. He is shocked at how tightly wound the muscles are, and isn’t surprised that Rocket is hurting as much as he is. He moves on to the raccoon’s back, jumping at the sudden low growl that is emitted from Rocket’s lips.

“Dude, what the hell!” He says, and Rocket looks up at him, eyes filled with apology.

“Reflex, sorry,” he says uncomfortably. “Obviously, the touch of a humie is something I’ve always associated negatively with,” he tries to joke, but Peter registers the seriousness of the comment more, causing him to frown. Silently he continues with his massage, smiling when Rocket reclines further into his lap, placing the back of his head against Peter’s chest and sighing in happiness.

“Tell anybody about this and I’ll murder you,” he threatens, causing Peter to laugh.

“As if you could take me down, little trash panda,” he says softly, and Rocket laughs into the palms of his hands.

“Any day, Star-Geek,” he mumbles, his speech pattern becoming more slurred as the moments go on.

“But first, we’ve gotta fix this ship and get the hell outta here,” Peter says, looking around at the state of the Milano. “And to do that, we need _you_ fixed up and ready to go, little buddy. So stop going so hard by yourself and let me in, moron. You know I’m always here for you,” he rambles on, his heart swelling with love and appreciation for his close friend as he thinks about all Rocket has done for them, for him. Not receiving any replies to his comments he looks down, chuckling at the sight before him.

Rocket is sound asleep in his arms.


End file.
